Job Listing Services

Chapter 4 of Title 2.91 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code deals with job listing services in California.

Section 1812.515 requires every job listing service subject to this title to maintain a bond issued by a surety company admitted to do business in this state. The principal sum of the bond must be $10,000 for each location. A copy of the bond must be filed with the Secretary of State. The bond must be payable to the State of California.

No job listing service is allowed to conduct any business without having a current surety bond in the amount prescribed by this chapter and filing a copy of the bond with the Secretary of State, identifying the bond and the date of cancellation or termination. Thirty days prior to the cancellation or termination of any surety bond required by this section, the surety is required to send a written notice of that cancellation or termination to both the job listing service and the Secretary of State, identifying the bond and the date of cancellation or termination.

When a person has established the claim with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State is required to review and approve the claim and enter the date of approval on the claim. The claim is to be designated an “approved claim.”

When the Secretary of State approves the first claim against a particular deposit after the expiration of the 240-day period, the date of approval of that claim begins a new 240-day period with respect to the amount remaining in the deposit. After a deposit is exhausted, no further claims are to be paid by the Secretary of State. Claimants who have had their claims paid in full or in part are not required to return funds received from the deposit for the benefit of other claimants.

Section 1812.516 requires every job listing service to give a written contract to every jobseeker from whom a fee or deposit is to be received, whether directly or indirectly. The original and one copy of the contract must be given to the jobseeker at the time the jobseeker signs the contract and before the job listing service accepts any fee or deposit or the jobseeker becomes obligated to pay any such fee or deposit. The contract is required to contain all of the specified information.

Section 1812.517 requires a job listing service to provide a copy of the service’s fee schedule and payment terms to any jobseeker from whom a fee or deposit is to be received, prior to the jobseeker being interviewed by a counselor or other agent or employee. In the schedule, the maximum fee is fixed and includes the charges of every kind rendered by the job listing service in each case or transaction on behalf of the prospective employee.

Section 1812.518 requires a job listing service to refund in full any advance fee paid and cancel any other obligation incurred by the jobseeker if the job listing service does not, within seven business days after execution of the contract, supply at least three employment opportunities then available to the jobseeker and meeting the specifications of the contract.

A job listing service will be deemed to have supplied information meeting the specifications of the jobseeker if the information supplied meets the contract specifications with reference to: type of job; interests of jobseeker; qualifications of jobseeker; hours, salary, benefits, and other conditions of employment; location of job; and any other specifications expressly set forth in the contract.

Section 1812.519 prohibits a job listing service from accepting a fee from any jobseeker, or send any jobseeker for employment, without having obtained, in writing, a bona fide job order for employment. A job listing service is required to identify itself as a job listing service to the employer in all instances in which it contacts an employer for the purposes of soliciting a job order.

All job orders are to be recorded in writing. A job order for employment is to be considered to have been given by an employer to a job listing service under the specified conditions. A job listing service shall not refer a jobseeker to a job knowing or having reason to know about three specified conditions. A job listing service cannot exchange job orders with an employment agency which charges a placement fee.

Section 1812.520 prohibits a job listing service from making or causing to be made any false, misleading or deceptive advertisements or representations concerning the services that the job listing service will provide to jobseekers. And, a job listing service cannot publish or cause to be published any false, fraudulent, or misleading information, representation, notice, or advertisements.

An advertised salary is required to be based upon the starting salary contained in the job order. An advertised range of starting salaries is to be specified by preceding the minimum salary and maximum salary by terms “from” and “to” respectively.

Section 1812.521 prohibits a job listing service from accepting any application for employment made by, or on behalf of, any minor, or place or assist in placing any minor in that employment in specified circumstances.

Every job listing service is required to notify each jobseeker before sending the jobseeker in response to a request for employment whether a labor contract is in existence at the establishment to which the jobseeker is being sent, and whether union membership is required. A job listing service is prohibited from sending a jobseeker to any place where a strike, lockout, or other labor trouble exists without notifying the jobseeker of that fact and shall in addition thereto enter a statement of those conditions upon the contract or receipt given to the jobseeker.